Illuminated panel



Jan. I, 1929.

J. ZUBATY ILLUMINATED PANEL Filed Jun 20, 1927 :jwwmtoo Jas Z Patented Jan. 1, 1929.

. U HT E JOSEPH ZUIBATY, or FLINT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO A o SPARK PLUG COMBANY, or

FLINT, MICHIGAN, A COMPANY or GIIIGAN.

IL-LUIVIINATED PANEL.

Application filed. June 20,

This invention relates to instrument pancls of the type mounted on the dashboard of an automobile, and constructed to carry the various instruments usually mounted thereon.

The object of the invention is to provide an instrument panel which is simple in construction and composed of but few .parts. A further object is to provide a single metal plate carrying the instruments desired and also a light bulb for illuminating the dials. A further object is to provide anzapertured, hinged cover plate for theinstruinent carrying plate, this cover requiringno glass and having the double function ofallowing both observation of and access to the instruments and also of reflecting light down to the floor of the machine and the parts thereon,

instrument apertures in said plate being shown as larger than corresponding apertures in said cover and the direction and extent of the mentioned reflection'being adjust ably variable by changing the inclination of said door.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the coursev of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l-is a front view of my improved implement panel showing a portion of the dashboard broken away and showing the arrangement of the dials, and the location of the hinge and fastening device;

Fig. 2 is asection on tlieline 2-2 of Fig.

1, with part of the speedometer head broken away, and showing the shape of the rear plate, the mounting of the light bulb and holding the cover plate in fixed position. The cover plate is shown in a nearly closed position in full lines and in raised position in dotted lines.

The numeral 2 indicates generally the instrument panel or assembly comprised in or carried by an instrument board 1 which may be the dashboard of an automotive vehicle.

The panel or assembly comprises an apertured base plate 3 which may be fixed to the dashboard at a main opening therein in any ordinary way, as by screws or bolts, not shown; or, as shown, the base plate and the dash may be made from a single metal sheet, stamped in the desired form to provide a speedometer head, and the latch device for 1927. Serial No. 200,277.

depressed portion for mounting the various instruments. The instruments are shown as all mounted from the front side to facilitate forward removal upon the lifting of a. hinged and apertured cover plate. The numeral 5 indicates a speedometer head which may be connected to the base by any ordinary means, as by small screws, not shown. The numeral 6 indicates a plate or flange carrying the light socket 7. The base 3 is shown as provided at this point with a special depression deep enough so that the light bulb 9, in the socket 7 is secured slightly in front of the front'of the speedometer head 5. In the usual construction, a strip is cut out of the side of each instrument toward the light and the resultant opening is covered with a transparent sheet, but I may avoid the necessity'of this by applying white paint to the depression in which the light bulb is set and to the under side of the hinged and apertured cover plate,--so that the instruments, protected by the mentioned cover and by their separate glass front plates, are indirectly illuminated to any desirous desired degree by reflection from standing portions of said cover, the re flected light entering through said separate glass plates. The exact number of instruments and the order in which they are arranged is immaterial.

Hinged to the-base member 3, as at 12, is the cover plate 13. This cover plate has openings as indicated in Fig. 1, corresponding to the location of the dials, the opening over the speedometer head being indicated at 14;. To vary the inward illumination of instruments, as well as the outward illumination, the cover plate is held in any adjusted position by means such as any simple adjustable latch. The device I have shown comprises a latch member 16 having notches 17 in its under side for fitting over the edge of the base in the slot 23. The latch mem- I may be raised to any desired extent, for instance to the extent indicated in full lines in Fig. 2. In this position, the cover plate will reflect the light from the bulb 9 not only to the instruments but to the fleet of the machine. If the operator desires access to the various instruments, he may lift the cover to an extreme position such as that shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Then the light bulb may be removed for replacement or any instrument removed through the front of the base plate. As may be readily discerned from the disclosure, the feature of having a hinged cover plate is not at all limited in its utility to an instrument panel illuminated as described, but on the contrary may be used with advantage in a panel in which the dials are illuminated by light which is enabled to entereach instrument by means of a slot covered with a transparent strip as described above. 7

What I claim is:

1. In combination, an instrument board formed with an opening, a base carrying one or more instruments and fixed to the instrument board at the opening, and a cover provided with separate apertures opposite said instruments and so secured as to permit both observation of and access to the instruments without removal of the base or said cover.

2. In combination, an instrument board,

formed with an opening, a base carrying one or more instruments and fixed to the instrument board at the opening, and means comprising an apertured and hinged cover plate permitting both observation and forward removal of-the instrmnents without removal of the panel for the base.

3. In a device of the class described, an

instrument board formed with an opening, a base carrying one or more instruments so mounted thereon as to be removable from the front side and fixed to the instrument board at the opening, and an apertured hinged cover for said base, the apertures therein being opposite said instruments and an instrument carryingplate at the opening, lighting means in a special depression within said plate, said plate being provided with an apertured cover, hinged to swing upward, and means for adjustably retaining said cover in any one of a plurality of positions, to vary the effect of said'lighting means.

6. In a device of the class described, an instrument board formed with an opening, a base plate carrying instruments, at source of light in a special depression within the base plate and in advance of the instruments, an apertured cover hinged to swing upward and provided with reflecting means, and means for adjusting said cover to a plurality of positions to vary the efiect of said lighting means. i

7. In a device of the class described, an instrument board formed with an opening, an apertured plate carrying instruments removable from the front side, an apertured cover hinged to swing upward, and means for adjusting said cover to a plurality of positions, including an extreme position which is favorable to the removal of instruments without removal of said plate.

8. In a device of the class described, an instrument board formed with an opening, an instrument plate at said opening having an instrument fixed thereon, a lighting element, a light reflecting apertured. cover hinged to swing upward, and means for adjusting said cover to vary the lighting effect from said lighting element. 7

9. In an instrument panel, a base carrying one or more instruments and a bulb for illuminating said instruments, a plate provided with apertures through which. saidinstruments are visible and pivoted to said base for swinging upward, and an adjustable connection between said cover plate and base and adapted to hold said cover plate alternatively in any one of a plurality of positions to obtain various ilumination efliects.

10. In a device of the'class described,an instrument board formed with an opening, a base carrying an instrument and a lighting element, said lighting element being so positioned as to illuminate the face of said Instrument by reflection, and an adjustable apertured cover for said base having an inner light reflecting surface adapted variably to reflect the light inward tosaid instrument and outward through said opening.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOSEPH ZUBATY. 

